Venture to the center of the island.

"You may change back to your original wardrobe. It's waiting where you left it," explains Aak'aba.

Xue lifts her jacket, which along with everything else, was **** form her body unlike what happened with yourself. She looks to you for a long moment until she says, "Go on now. I'm going to change here. Wait for me outside. We may have grown closer, but that doesn't mean you get to watch me dress."

So you do just that. Back in the small, sealed entry room, you hang up the magic robe and start to assemble your usual garb. It feels so cold now by comparison. The enchantment is gone, and your garments have been sitting in a refrigerator all this time. You shiver as the cool fabric binds your body. Though you rub your hands together, blow hot between them, and at last step foot into the snow outside where your party eagerly awaits.

"Finally!" shouts Niki before throwing her arms around you. "I was ready to break my way inside."

"She's telling the truth. I had to hold her back," Eva explains as she comes up beside you.

"No more waiting," says Vyzia. "What is our next step?"

You open your hand to reveal the sparking shard. It doesn't shock you, though the current does gently tingle your palm. "With this, apparently we'll be granted passage up to the island. So all we need to do is go about our other plan, to where there should be a way up. Now we'll actually have a way to do it. But we don't just have Thunderbeard to deal with. I learned the name of his patron, the one who grants him power. She's called Stormqueen Tepilli. Our work is cut out for us."

Captain Silver crosses her arms. "Huh. I've heard of her. Though it was always one of those things, where you weren't sure if she were real or just a tale. I guess it's safer to bet on things like that actually existing. Some say she's the goddess of the sky, or of the weather, though most say she's more a demon of storms. Not literally, but stories don't paint her in a very positive light. When a ship is taken by the sea, that's sometimes the name people curse."

Just then, a figure emerges from behind. Once again she's wrapped to where only the top half of her face can be seen. Her hair is tucked back into her hat, and while you can still see the sweet girl from before when you look into her eyes, she's transformed back into the mysterious Xue. She trusted you with her secret, so you keep it until she shares the truth on her own.

"Is everything all right?" asks Captain Silver.

She looks to her and nods. "Yes. Let's go."

Your small army of fifteen people continues to march through the frozen wastelands of this half of the island. It continues to be difficult to maintain your footing, and the winds cut down to your bones. Though thankfully, it isn't much farther now until the path leads you to the very center. You have to believe there are multiple ways up, as the pirates at the port don't likely travel out this far, though this will be your entrance regardless. The hills part, and between them is a wide opened circle carved unnaturally into the ground. Then straight above, you can see the floating mass of land blocking out the light of the sun.

Malakae, still in dragon form, claws her way into the circle and lowers her nose to the snow. "There's magic here," she says. "This is where that crystal of yours must be used."

"Then everyone come close. I don't know what's going to happen next." You step forwards, and squeeze the shard firmly in your palm. "And be careful. I know we've bested more than one Demon King in the past, but there's no telling what awaits us above."

"But I know what awaits Thunderbeard," grumbles Bek.

"Me too," Vyzia says.

"Step one," you begin. "We put an end to the reign of Thunderbeard and his dommy mommy Tepilli. Step two, we free K'iina and Aak'aba from chastity. And then step three, we all go back to Castle Phoenix and celebrate."

"I'd be honoured," Captain Silver says with a tip of her cap.

Amara wraps her sleeved arms around her cold silver staff. Her nose and ears are cutely red by the chilling breeze. "I will just be happy to be somewhere warmer."

You chuckle and wrap a warm hand around one of her ears, cradling it gently. "Just hold out a little bit longer."

The elf shivers and whimpers. "C-Careful. Not right before a fight."

Lynx points dramatically towards the sky, and then gestures her thumb back down. "I know you said to be careful, but this guy ain't nothing. I knew when I first faced you at the Golden Sword that you were cut from a different cloth, Kyle. You didn't win the tournament, but that was a long time ago."

"I seem to still remember why I didn't win. I also never forgot the words I used to help Niki--"

"W-We don't need to talk about that actually. I was just trying to hype us up."

"You know my bow will be ready," says Snow from behind. "Lead the way."

Fava kneels down and places a hand upon the gnome's head. "Stay near me, Dix. I know we aren't really fighters like the others are."

Niki swings her shield to the side and grins. "I've got you both. Don't worry."

Stax nudges Lalarin's leg from below. "Ready to lose parts of your clothing in a fight, super heroine?"

"Wh-What? That only sometimes happens!" she shouts back. "But I am ready to beat some criminals."

"You know, all the way out here, there can't really be crime if there are no laws."

"That's true. Though I wasn't exactly working for the guard before anyway."

Eva looks herself over. "You know, it's not the wrong size of course, but maybe I should wear this style of dress more often." With a chuckle, she takes a step back and bumps into the suddenly appearing snout of a gold dragon. She looks back, and then jumps in fear as hot air wafts from great nostrils. "Ew. Stinky."

"My breath does not stink!" Malakae roars.

Unsure of exactly how it works, you stand in center of the party and hold your fist up into the air. You feel the crystal within react. It vibrates and tingles the inside of your hand. Then it buzzes to the extent of your arm beginning to shake. You look around as a fine line traces in a circle around the area. Dark clouds waft up like from an evil fog machine until nobody can even see their own feet. Then for just a moment, you see a flash of light form a cylinder leading straight up towards the island, though it takes only a second before the magic catches you, and the entire group is warped straight upwards. At last, you've entered Thunderbeard's fortress.